Charmed Another Side, Another Story V
by Yusho MinChao
Summary: Quintet. A heat wave hits the city. The Charmed Ones find themselves dealing with not only rising temperatures but also burning desires. With Andy's return, Graham's undercover work, and Darryl's supernatural case, the men in their lives are bringing trouble, and the men of the city are in danger. The Halliwell Sisters must work to make sure everything doesn't go down in flames.
1. Part 1

Charmed

Another Side, Another Story

V

Man Alive

(Part 1)

Piper comes into the kitchen with Phoebe on her heels attached to her shoulders.

Prue stands at the island drinking her coffee and reading the morning paper. She's already dressed and ready for work.

The sun has barely risen. Seeing Piper and Phoebe up this early is unusual.

Piper looks frazzled and tired. Her hair is all over her head. She glares at Prue as Phoebe pulls out a chair and puts her in it.

Phoebe looks like she just came from a sauna. She goes to the freezer and grabs an ice pack that she places on her forehead before she rejoins Piper.

Prue takes notice of Piper's cutting eyes before Piper glares at Phoebe.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Prue asks.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Phoebe asks, sitting in the chair in front of Piper.

Prue carries her coffee over to the table and places it on the table before she stands behind Phoebe holding onto Phoebe's chair.

"Between Phoebe's erotic nightmares," Piper tells Prue, "and Prue's wall-rocking rendezvous," she tells Phoebe, "I'm never going to get sleep in this house again."

"What?" Phoebe questions, getting a giant grin on her face as she turns around in her chair to read Prue's face.

Prue immediately looks away and takes a drink of her coffee in case she doesn't manage to hold her composure. Then, her mind goes to work. She turns back to Piper and looks to Phoebe.

"What do you mean by erotic nightmares?" Prue asks.

"Don't try to change the subject," Phoebe says. "You're getting actual action. I want details."

"That can wait," Prue says. "Are you okay? What's with the ice pack?"

"Tell her," Piper says. "Maybe she can help you put an end to them, so I can at least get a couple hours of sleep."

"I'm fine I'm just hot," Phoebe says, moving the ice pack from her forehead, to her neck, and finally to her chest.

"We're in the middle of a heat wave," Prue says. "Of course it's hot."

"Oh no that's not exactly what she means," Piper says, placing her arm on the table before she rest her forehead on it.

"I mean like hot, aroused," Phoebe says, fanning herself with her free hand. "I've been having this sex dream. Well, I've been having sex dreams plural. I've had sex dreams before, good ones, but these are freaky. I mean, they're...romantic. I mean, satin sheets, candles, soft music playing in the background."

"I think she gets the picture," Piper says into the table.

"It's a different guy every time," Phoebe says. "He tells me I'm the perfect woman. I'm the woman of his dreams. He loves me. Then, he rocks my world, knocks it out of the park. These guys bring their A-game. This one guy lifted my leg-" Prue raises her hand to stop her from continuing. "It feels real."

"These don't sound like nightmares," Prue says, "except for the people related to you who have to hear what gets you going."

"Wait for it," Piper says into the table again.

"It all feels real," Phoebe says, "even the part where I kill them."

"You kill them?" Prue questions.

"That's how the dreams end," Phoebe says. "Something's not right. I don't know if it's me or this heat wave."

"There's something with you," Piper says, lifting her head, "but it has nothing to do with your dreams. A dream is a metaphor. In this case, it's a metaphor for all the sex you want to have with Graham. It's killing you, and you're taking it out on all the guys that aren't Graham."

"Before these nightmares started," Phoebe says, "I had a dream that included me, Graham, and Skye." She briefly smiled to herself. "That was a nice dream." She pulls herself back. "Forget about that though. I want to hear about the wall rocking."

"I want to see the back of my eyelids," Piper says, letting her forehead fall back on her arm.

"I'm not giving you details about any wall rocking," Prue says, "but I wouldn't mind talking to you two about something else."

This immediately draws Piper's attention. She lifts her head to hear what Prue has to say. Phoebe doesn't try to push for details but instead waits to hear Prue out.

"I'm not used to having sex in the house," Prue says, trying to concentrate on her coffee, "but now that Andy doesn't have a place... Andy's always been good, but now? He's like a whole new man. I can't even..."

"Stay quiet," Piper says. "I know." Phoebe laughs. Prue shakes her head without looking at either of them.

"Don't be embarrassed," Phoebe says. "That's how you know it isn't just good but great."

"She's not embarrassed Phoebe," Piper says. "She's worried. Andy is a new man because he died and came back."

"I'm not complaining," Prue says. She raises her head. "Part of me wonders if he thinks this is all he can do for me now."

"We know that's not true," Phoebe says.

"We know but how could he," Prue says. "Part of me wonders if I can't know him anymore. Has he processed the fact that he can't go back to his old life? Will he eventually come down from this high?"

"Even if you didn't love the crap out of him," Piper says, "you couldn't know him completely. Men are hard to understand. I should know. I've fallen for a ghost man...a demon man...an angel man..."

"When you're tired," Phoebe says, "you get kind of loopy. Men aren't hard to understand. You just have to know how to read them, and you know how to read Andy, even if there's a new side to him."

On one hand, Prue felt like Piper was saying something their mom would say. Piper had a knack for reminding Prue of their mom. On the other hand, Prue felt like Phoebe was saying something Grams would say. Phoebe had a knack for reminding Prue of their Grams. This brought a brief smile to her face.

"My point is men are unpredictable," Piper says. "You can't get in their heads. You can't get in Andy's head."

"But what if we could?" Phoebe says and laughs. "Probably be nothing but trouble."

"I'm going to bed while I have the chance," Piper says. She gets up from the table and heads back for her room.

"I'm right behind you," Phoebe says, hanging off Piper's shoulders with one hand and holding the ice pack to her forehead with the other.

Prue watches them leave the kitchen before she sits with her cup of coffee in the chair Phoebe had occupied.

A moment later, Andy orb fades into the room with his own cup of coffee. "Can I join?" he asks and grins. He's dressed in a t-shirt and pajama pants. His hair has grown longer. His grin remains the same. He's handsome. In his eyes, Prue sees the Andy she fell in love with every time.

"Always," Prue says with a short smile.

Andy sits down with his cup of coffee in the chair Piper had occupied.

Andy can sense that something is bothering Prue. He can tell by the way she handles her coffee cup and glances at her coffee before her eyes meet his. He doesn't say anything about it. Prue didn't like to be pushed. In the past, he would push her. He didn't know if he could or should push her anymore. She had felt responsible for his death, probably still did, and all he wanted was for her to be so happy that she could forget. She would never forget.

But he's not the same Andy, Prue thinks to herself. Who is he now?

Opening Credits Roll

Prue – Shannen Doherty

Piper – Holly Marie Combs

Phoebe – And Alyssa Milano

Darryl – Dorian Gregory

Graham – Will Dorsey

Whitney – Nadia Vixamar

Theme Song: How Soon Is Now by Love Spit Love


	2. Part 2

Charmed

Another Side, Another Story

V

Man Alive

(Part 2)

Phoebe knows she's dreaming. She can't see herself, but she sees the guy. The young man who has taken center stage in this erotic dream is definitely handsome. He has dark red hair, styled with gel and slightly curled, and bright green eyes. He has sharp, chiseled features, but they appear soft and inviting. They make her feel calm and at ease. She can tell by the way he is dressed that he comes from money. He wears a navy blue three-piece Armani suit. She starts to tear off his clothes. She craves his body. When she places her hands on his pecs, moves her hands across his abs, and grabs onto his tight glutes, she can't help but kiss him. He pushes her onto her satin sheets on the bed within the room. She turns him over and puts him on his back. Doesn't take her long to pull his pants off. She has him completely naked.

"You are the perfect woman," he tells her.

He's completely enamored. He flips her over, raises her dress, and before Phoebe knows it she can barely catch her breath from the great work he's putting into this sexcapade.

"I can't get enough of you," he tells her.

It isn't until he lifts her off the bed and places her against the wall while he breathes heavily into her neck that she grabs his face in her hands.

"You are all I've ever wanted from a woman," he tells her, looking deep into her eyes. He goes to kiss her.

A look of fear crosses his eyes as he falls back onto the floor with her on top of him. Something goes down his throat. It kills him.

Phoebe wakes up from her erotic nightmare with a start.

"Piper!" Phoebe immediately calls for her older sister.

Piper comes into the room with her pillow ready to smother her to death, but when she sees the fear on Phoebe's face and sees that she's drenched in sweat she tosses her pillow to the side and goes to stand beside her and hold her.

"What's wrong?" Piper asks. "What happened?"

"They're not nightmares," Phoebe tells her. "They're real, and I think I'm killing people."

~!~

Whitney stands in Graham's doorway. She looks over his room. He isn't here. He's been gone for a while. He didn't tell her where he was going, and his truck was still here. She remembers her conversation about Graham with Prue from last week.

"If there's a sign that Graham's going Evil," Prue had said, "being pulled by your brothers or father, you have to tell me so we can try to save him."

"You actually think that's a possibility?" Whitney questioned her. "Graham would never go Evil. He's not heartless. He couldn't, he wouldn't, kill someone just to gain more power."

"I'm less worried about him trying to become Evil and gain power," Prue said. "I don't know much about your family, I don't know what his relationship was with his brothers or his father, but I want to keep an eye on him because maybe they have answers to the questions you and him need answered. He would do what he felt he needed to get those answers."

"If they draw him in, if they tell him the truth, it might change things for him," Whitney said. "It might. It would also endanger his life."

Whitney was worried. She could lose him to death, to Evil, or to family. She had to remember that there was no such thing as pure Evil. Good could go bad. Bad could go good. Maybe, if he got involved with the others, he could change them. That thought was probably naïve though. How could he turn the others away from centuries of Evil? Well, if anyone could do it, it could be Graham...

"Don't worry," Prue told Whitney, bringing Whitney from her thoughts and fears. "This is a precautionary measure. Nothing more."

"I trust you Prue," Whitney said, knowing Prue would bring him to her before she took any drastic measures and wouldn't let her down.

They didn't continue that conversation because Leo entered the kitchen right after.

Whitney, holding the phone in her hand at her side, calls Darryl.

"Hello," Darryl says when he picks up.

"It's me," Whitney says.

"Hey Whitney," Darryl says. "We haven't talked in a while. I've been meaning to stop by. Is everything all right? I was about to head out. I've got work to do on a new case."

"I don't want to keep you," Whitney says. She hesitates in saying more.

"You can tell me anything," Darryl assures her. "You know I'm here to help."

How much can you help Darryl? I don't want to endanger your life, Whitney thinks.

"It has to stay between us," Whitney says. How many secrets can I keep? I'm forgetting what should be kept secret and who knows what these days.

"This is about Graham," Darryl says. She's hesitant to speak, and he can hear a hint of worry in her voice. Graham needs help, but Graham hasn't told her he needs help.

"All I need is for you to stay in contact with Graham," Whitney says. "I don't want him to be or feel isolated. His safety and his future might depend on it."

He might think she was exaggerating if it weren't for the fact that she and Graham were involved with the Halliwells. Darryl had been thinking about all of them the past couple weeks. He was an Inspector, and they were also in a similar line of work. The laws they had to abide by were, however, outside what many people would consider normal. Many people would probably find it all hard to understand, especially if they didn't really know what those laws or rules were. That's where Darryl found himself, but he would do what he could where he was, considering he didn't know if he wanted all the details and the full explanation just yet. This group needed normal or the natural, and apparently he was finding that he needed to be a part of the abnormal or supernatural.

"I'll get a hold of him as soon as I can," Darryl tells her. "Then, I'll go from there."

"Thank you Darryl," Whitney says. "I know you have work to do. I'll let you go."

"Good bye," Darryl says. They hang up the phone.

Darryl begins to think. Maybe, he might need to go into another line of work. He doesn't want to leave law enforcement. He thinks about making a lateral move. Based on the case file Andy left him, even though he didn't read it, and based on the case he just received, Darryl wonders if it might be time to leave for the private sector of law enforcement.

Darryl leaves home with the case file on the series of murders that have begun to crop up during this heat wave. Of course, he gained the case because they are not normal murders. If Andy were still here, he would've been all gung-ho about it, and Darryl would've given him a hard time. They had a great partner ship, he thinks as he smiles to himself, which is why he still hadn't let anyone replace Andy. He is headed for the next victim's place of employment to continue with the ongoing investigation: Crystal Landings.

"Was that Darryl?" Andy asks from behind Whitney.

"It was," Whitney says, turning around. She believes she hears a hint of sadness or pain in his voice, but she can't be sure. "I thought you were still with Prue." She kind of wants to change the subject unsure of how much of her conversation Andy heard.

"She had to leave for work," Andy tells her. "I've been training. Can't think of what else to do." Darryl's gone. My family's gone. My job is gone. These were the facts. Now, what did he do with those facts?

"Do you want to talk about it?" Whitney asks him, feeling bad for Andy because she believes he might find it hard dealing with his new life now that it is more of a reality.

"We should probably have a talk," Andy says. You were speaking with Darryl for a reason. It involves Graham.

"We have plenty more we need to discuss," Whitney tells him, turning from him and walking for her room. He follows her. She takes a sit on her bed, and he stands before her. "Let's start with you, and then we'll go from there."

You're good, Andy thinks. He smirks and shifts uncomfortably. We both have things we want to say and things we don't. A number of relationships hang in the balance of our exchange of information. You wonder if I am loyal to you, your brother, or the Elders. I am loyal to Prue. For that reason, I will start our conversation.


	3. Part 3

Charmed

Another Side, Another Story

V

Man Alive

(Part 3)

Graham is in the Underworld. He looks to his left, and he sees Skye, his brother, who brought him down here. They've got their eyes on a Demon. Graham can't help think about how he ended up here, especially after having not told his sister where he'd gone.

"Morning buddy," Graham heard Skye's voice. He opened his eyes to see Skye's face, wearing a grin. "It sucks you turned over a new leaf, in other words joined the side of Good. You're missing your eyes. You haven't been using your power to its full extent."

Graham glanced over at the alarm clock next to his bed. It was 5:30 in the morning.

"Is there a reason you're here?" he questioned.

"We're getting started bright and early," Skye said. "Hopefully, we'll be back before your team even knows you're gone. I figured you'd want it that way."

Graham sat up. He wouldn't admit it, but he did want it that way. He had known this day would come. He and Prue had known, but neither had told their siblings yet, considering it hadn't become a problem. It was a nonissue unnecessary to worry the others about, but now...

"I'm going to have to watch your back," Skye said, "aren't I?" He backed up and took a seat on Graham's desk. "You've fallen behind. That's why Orlin and Detrius came as close as they did to finding you and Whitney out."

"I can hold my own," Graham said. He sat up. "How is it possible you know that Orlin and Detrius almost discovered our location?"

"Good question," Skye said. "Get dressed. When we get to where we're going, I might answer a few of your questions. I'm sure you've got more."

Graham was suspicious, but he had to go. Besides, he had agreed to go. He pulled back his comforter, and then he remembered he was naked.

"If this goes well," Skye said, "we might have to get you back out there. Your big little guy should be getting action not rotting in here like the rest of you."

"You're going to be pissing me off for the duration of the day," Graham said, "aren't you?"

"We've got the same equipment," Skye said, "so what? We can tag team a girl. Like the old days. Good times were had by all."

"This isn't the old days Skye," Graham said before he stood and went into the bathroom to get ready.

This is dangerous, Graham thinks. This could be a set up. The shard that Skye claimed would pierce his own heart Graham knows Skye could probably remove it any time he wanted. What would stop Skye, and how would Graham know if Skye went back on their deal? Graham is endangering himself, the sisters, and worse than that Whitney, which meant the rest of the world.

Skye, with Skye, it is back and forth when it comes to trust. When Graham begins to think he doesn't need to doubt Skye, Skye will do or say something to put Graham back on his guard, which he believes probably is not wrong. Blood made them brothers but not family.

"You ready?" Skye asked Graham standing across from him in front of Graham's full-length mirror. "Don't want to tell Whitney you're leaving? Don't want to say goodbye?"

Graham gave him a hard stare.

"Too soon?" Skye questioned this time with a wicked grin. "I'm fucking with you."

"It's hard to believe you're older than me," Graham said. "Let's go."

"Living up top with the mortals on the side of Good has left you cold," Skye said. He placed a hand on Graham's shoulder. "Don't worry brother. I'll fix that."

Skye shattered them.

A moment later, Graham was in the Underworld with Issim standing across from him.

Issim raised his hand and unleashed a stream of mirror shards.

Graham dove to the right. He glared at Issim, but he didn't say a word. Another stream of shards came at him. He rolled to the left, avoiding the second attack, threw an orb of light at Issim that he spread into multiple orbs, and sent Issim's way. The orbs came at Issim from every direction, but Issim split his shards in every direction, piercing through all of Graham's orbs destroying them.

Graham noted Issim unleashed a stream of shattered shards a third time, repeating his previous tactic, instead of creating reflections like he did in their previous fight. This fight was different. He stood as the stream came. Skye was fucking with him again. The stream hit Graham straight in the chest and sent him into the wall behind him. He fell to the ground and placed a hand to his chest. He felt the pain, but he hadn't been cut or pierced, as he should've been.

Issim used another shard stream to lift Graham from the ground and pin him to the wall.

"You managed to be weaker now than when you were younger," Issim said. "How'd you manage that? If a Demon attacks, you're dead. No wonder the sisters are involved. We can't have weakness. We can't have that. I'll fix this." He split the stream that held Graham in place, pinning Graham's individual arms and legs along with his neck.

"Issim," Graham said in a steady tone, even as he realized Issim was about to put him through training from hell in hell.

Issim allowed a single, long, jagged mirror shard emerge from the center of the shard stream. He thrust it into Graham's chest.

Graham grit his teeth and didn't yell out, even though he was in excruciating pain. He glared into Issim's radiant blue eyes.

Issim locked onto Graham's eyes. He was waiting for something. He thrust the shard into Graham's chest again. No blood fell. Issim watched Graham examine the shard protruding from his chest and try to breathe through the pain of it. How could he not be bleeding, Issim thought. He pulled the shard from Graham's body, and then he decided he needed to do more. He broke that jagged shard into a plethora of shards and caused them to hover over every part of Graham's body except Graham's face. He plunged all the shards into Graham's body, driving them deeper and deeper. Graham would not cry out in pain, and once again no blood fell. However, Issim saw what he was looking for a few seconds later. Had he not been paying attention he would've missed it. Issim saw a glimpse of Graham's brilliant golden eyes before Issim found that he was at the center of a column of light.

Issim felt immense pain for a moment, and then he was on his knees as Skye. He no longer maintained his Demonic form, and he didn't have the use of his powers. All his shards were gone. His powers were slowly returning though. He looked up with Graham standing before him.

"So you do still have it," Skye said, standing with a wicked grin on his face. Have you achieved a Demonic form yet, or are you still without one? I wonder if you can even obtain one. You've yet to kill anyone."

Graham had to wait a minute before he spoke. Ever since his previous encounter with Issim he'd been training harder than he ever had, and he realized during the training he should've been doing it long before then. He'd come far trying to use his powers in new ways, so he wouldn't have to rely on his old Warlock abilities, but he wasn't proficient in his new skills so they took a lot out of him. Issim couldn't know that. To break free of Issim, he used his pillar of light, combining his control over light with his shielding power. Issim holding back and his own shielding power had kept him from bleeding out and dying, and his combination magic allowed him to reject Issim's Demonic form and temporarily disable his powers. Unfortunately, this technique at this stage in its development had the consequence of temporarily disabling his own powers too but only his control over light thankfully. The other brother's wouldn't be able to discover Whitney's location.

"Whether I can or not," Graham said seriously, "you're not going to try and get it out of me. I will vanquish you. You don't want to know what else I can do." He tried to hide the fact he was breathing heavily.

"I do brother," Skye said, patting him on the shoulder. "I do."

"I know you were testing me," Graham said, knocking Skye's hand off his shoulder. "If you're trying to build trust, this isn't the way to go about it."

"Sorry," Skye said, which surprised Graham. "I'm trying." He turned around and started walking. "Trust that. You could try too."

Graham said nothing, but after a beat Graham did follow him.

Graham and Skye watch the Demon they are after suddenly start getting crushed under a tremendous invisible weight.

"Don't move," Skye mutters seriously. "Don't breathe." He moves from his position toward where the Demon struggled to survive.

Skye stops as a man, who appears only a few years older than him and Graham, hovers from out of the darkness. This man has dark skin that is lighter than Graham's and has red hair both thick and curly with a similar goatee to go along with it. His eyes are translucent for a brief second before they become copper.

"You're chasing down Demons and not the Witches," the stranger says. "Why is that?"

Graham doesn't quite recognize him, even though he seems familiar.

"Since when have you been concerned with what I'm doing," Skye counters.

"Since you were supposed to avenge Detrius and Orlin," the stranger replies.

"I've got more pressing concerns Xyphlo," Skye says. "You want the Witches? Find them yourself. Belthazor might be on the horizon and if the Source sends him and the others after us we might have a problem."

Xyphlo, Graham remembers, is he and Skye's older brother. He wasn't that much older than Skye but old enough to end them both without much of a fight as evidenced by the Demon who fought against an impending vanquish.

"Belthazor and the Source," Xyphlo says, leaning back and looking at the ceiling as he thinks. "Father would find them more important than these Witches. I'll kill the Witches." He allows himself to hover right in front of the Demon's line of sight. "I thought you were a threat," he tells the Demon. "Don't hold it against my brother, but you might want to be wary of him. He'll kill you." He returns his attention to Skye. "Carry on."

"I intend too," Skye says right before Xyphlo disappears from their presence.

Graham turns away from Skye as Skye turns toward him. Skye had told him about separate agendas, but Belthazor and the Source? What do they have to do with Skye or Argyl? What do they have to do with him and Whitney?


End file.
